Unions hope IR campaign will turn Page

Union leaders are targeting the marginal seat of Page in the lead up to the federal election.

A campaign launch will be held in Ballina tonight.

Mark Lennon, from Unions New South Wales says there is broad concern about the industrial relations policy being proposed by the Opposition leader Tony Abbott.

He says it's Workchoices under a different name.

"He's been very clear, particularly in his budget-reply speech that if he becomes Prime Minister he will remove unfair dismissal rights from about two million workers in this country, and he will also introduce some sort of individual, flexible workplace contract which we believe of course will slash wages and conditions for working Australians," Mr Lennon said.

But the Nationals' candidate for Page says the unions are wasting members' money on a scare campaign.

Kevin Hogan says it's silly to suggest Workchoices is back on the Coalition's agenda.

"A lot of the things in Workchoices people didn't like - we realise that, we lost an election over that so there is certainly no way that we would bring back things that the Australian public and the Australian workers don't want," Mr Hogan said.

"I think it's almost like me trying to campaign against Mark Latham - I mean it's an issue and a thing from years ago so I think it's just a real fear campaign and I think it's a real waste of union fees money by union members in the Page electorate," he said.

But Mr Lennon says the campaign is justified.

"Clearly this has been endorsed by the ACTU and by Unions NSW's campaign, so there is strong support from the union membership for this campaign," Mr Lennon said.

"We want to make it very clear, and people need to know and voters have a right to know what all political parties' issues are when it comes to industrial relations, therefore it's appropriate that we campaign on this issue," he said.

You have no doubt been hearing a lot about the Paris Agreement and know that it pertains to climate change, but are too embarrassed at this stage to ask for an overall explanation of what it's all about.